1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a protective device for objects placed inside the rear boot of a motor vehicle bearing a roof that folds away into the boot.
2. Description of the Related Art
We know of a device for protecting objects placed inside the rear boot of a motor vehicle bearing a foldaway roof movable between a deployed position in which it covers the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and a folded, stored position in which it is stored and retracted in the boot closed with a hood. Such a device is the type comprising a panel forming the vertical limit between a protected zone of the boot used to receive the objects and accessible when the boot is open from the rear forward, and a second zone of the boot used to receive the roof in the folded, stored position and located above the protected zone, the panel being moveable between at least a low protecting position in which the protected zone fills a first volume which is free when the boot is closed and the roof is in its folded, stored position, and a high protecting position in which the protected zone fills a second volume which is free when the boot is closed and the roof is in its deployed position, first and second means for securing being used to lock the panel respectively in its low protecting position and in its high protecting position, the panel in the low protecting position being used to co-operate with a first sensor so as to authorise the folding of the roof.
Such a device is described, for example, in the French patent application 2 796 901. In this prior application, the rear boot is closed, on one hand, by a hood opening from the front backward in order to allow the roof to pass whilst moving between its folded, stored position to its deployed position and, on the other hand, by a rear door opening from the rear forward in order to allow objects to be placed inside. In this prior application, the movement of the roof and that of the hood are controlled by actuators only when the panel is in its low protecting position, which ensures the protection of the objects. The movement of the rear door is manually controlled, the user ensuring the protection of the objects.
However, there are vehicles for which the opening and closing of the rear boot is entirely automated: either, as in the aforementioned application, the boot comprises a hood and a rear door whose respective movements are controlled by actuators, or, the boot comprises a hood controlled by an actuator and articulated so as to be opened from the front backward or from the rear forward.
For this reason, the devices for protecting objects of the prior art do not allow the objects to be protected during the automatic closing of the boot.